The purpose of this contract is to establish a Hereditary Hearing Impairment Resource Registry for the study of genetic hearing impairment and deafness, serving as a national resource for the biomedical research community. Under this acquisition, the Contractor will encourage the direct enlistment of individuals and families in whom hearing impairment or deafness appears and who are willing to participate in genetic studies and the referral of individuals and families by their health care professionals. The Contractor will collect and maintain clinical information on participants including specified medical, audiologic, demographic and epidemiologic variables. In addition, the Contractor will encourage the pursuit of research on the genetic bases of hearing impairment and deafness by disseminating pertinent information to primary care physicians, otolaryngologists, audiologists, and medical and molecular geneticists and other biomedical scientists and health care professionals.